1. Technical Field
The present invention relates, in general, to computing systems. In particular, the present invention relates to computing systems having objects distributed across multiple interconnected computing systems.
2. Description of the Related Art
A computing system is a system which, among other things, stores and retrieves information. One type of information stored and retrieved by a computing system is typically referred to as an "object." An "object," when utilized in the context of a computing system, refers to a variable comprising both routines and data that is treated as a discrete entity.
When an object is stored in a computing system, it is given an identification (ID) which is unique within a scope. The object ID is utilized internal to a computing system as a "key" to manifest the object when desired. The object ID may or may not be known outside of the computing system.
It is sometimes desirable to construct a set of attributes about an object such that when all, or a subset of the attributes, are supplied by a requester, the ID of the object can be determined and returned to the requestor. These attributes are created and stored, generally at the time that the original object is added to the computing system, in a data structure which will be referred to herein as an Object Attributes Record (OAR). The object ID associated with a particular object is also stored in the OAR associated with that particular object. The set of OARs in an individual computing system is often referred to as an "object index."
Utilizing an "object index," it is possible to determine an object's ID via the utilization of a computational entity (or computer logic), which will be referred to herein as an Object Resolution Service (ORS). An ORS can be conceived of as an entity which receives a list of attributes, and returns an object ID associated with an object having some or all of the attributes in the received list, if such an object is known within the computing system wherein the ORS is resident.
Methods (such as ORSs) exist for utilizing attributes of an object to determine an object ID within the scope of a single computing system. However, when multiple interconnected computing systems are involved, and conditions are such that an object may reside on any one of the multiple interconnected computing systems, obtaining an object ID for a particular object on the basis of a list of attributes is a complex and difficult problem.
Presently, no serious attempts have been made to solve the foregoing noted problem. Most of the efforts to date have focused on the problem of identifying object IDs within the confines of one computing system. It is thus apparent that a need exists for a method and system which provide the determination of an object's ID on the basis of that object's attributes when such an object can reside on at least one computing system among multiple interconnected computing systems.